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Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography of Laura Ingalls Wilder, edited by Pamela Smith Hill, published by the South Dakota Historical Society Press, 2014.
Would you believe that Pioneer Girl, the autobiography of Laura Ingalls Wilder—who created Little House on the Prairie—was never published until The Pioneer Girl Project completed the task under the auspices of the South Dakota State Historical Society in 2014? Pioneer Girl, it should be mentioned, was edited by Pamela Smith Hill, who wrote a distinguished biography titled, Laura Ingalls Wilder: A Writer's Life, also published by the South Dakota Historical Society Press. The Ingalls family had a strong connection to South Dakota. Although Laura Ingalls was born in Wisconsin, in 1867, her family set out for Missouri one year later, and, after a lot of wandering, settled down in the Dakota Territory in 1879. The Ingalls family found a home in De Smet, South Dakota which was named after Father Pierre-Jean De Smet, a Jesuit priest, who devoted himself to ministering to American Indians of the Great Plains. It was in De Smet, South Dakota that Laura Ingalls and Almanzo J. Wilder were married August 25, 1885, at the home of Reverend E. Brown who, at Laura's urging, promised not to use the word "obey" in the wedding ceremony.
Laura Ingalls Wilder's first published article was published in the De Smet News and Leader in 1894, describing her impressions as she and her husband and young daughter, Rose, moved from De Smet to the Missouri Ozarks. They arrived in Mansfield, Missouri in August of 1894 and, by September, purchased 40 acres of land which Laura christened Rocky Ridge Farm. Once Rocky Ridge Farm was up and running, Laura began writing for newspapers and eventually became a columnist for the Missouri Ruralist, a weekly farm newspaper. Her daughter, Rose, talented and ambitious, graduated High School and left home in 1904, moving to Kansas City, happy to leave Rocky Ridge Farm. Rose Wilder was rebellious and highly competitive. In 1909, Rose Wilder left Kansas City, moved to San Francisco, married a man named Gillette Lane who was a reporter for the San Francisco Call, and, after some false starts, began a career as a free-lance writer. In time she became a published author, editor, and dedicated promoter of her mother's career. Laura Ingalls Wilder later joined her daughter in San Francisco for an extended visit. It was this intense relationship between mother and daughter—competitive and protective at the same time—that eventually resulted in Laura and Rose using the unpublished manuscript of Pioneer Girl as the foundation for the inspired works of fiction that followed.
After Laura Ingalls Wilder had completed the original draft of her autobiography, she put it in the hands of her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, who, over time, edited several different editions that were never published. How much of Laura Ingalls Wilder's literary success can be attributed to Rose Wilder Lane's inspirational drive and editorial skills? It's a great question and both Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography and Laura Ingalls Wilder: A Writer's Life speculate freely on this very question.
The layout, annotations, and photographs of Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography are organized and presented to create a vivid narrative of the artistic history of Laura Ingalls Wilder. It is a superb accomplishment and the editors and staff of the Pioneer Girl Project and the South Dakota Historical Society Press richly deserve to be commended.
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I recently, after 22 years, completed my autobiography, or mine might have languished like Laura Ingalls Wilder's. I'm certainly glad that Wilder had her daughter to encourage her and do fine editing, and Pamela Smith Hill who would later pick up her manuscript and finally, get it published.
Ron